Cries and Whispers (1972)
Bergman is always reliable in providing a deep dive into pain and misery. As usual he is able to extract something deep and special from all his actors and Liv Ullmann is always great to behold. The storytelling here is somewhat disjointed and vague, but it is more about emotional state of being. And everyone here is clearly not well. One is dying of cancer and can’t deal with the pain. Her sisters are distraught by this to some extent, but also has their own inner demons - especially with their respective husbands. All drenched in misery and despair. An even sadder side-story to all this is the house maid who had a close relationship with the dying Agnes, but is barely acknowledged by the wealthy family and is tossed aside in the end.
As with all Bergman films I have watched so far, there is always something that sits with me and gets under my skin, simply by the uncomfortable emotions his film manages to evoke. I did however found the opaque structure and the more than usual unexplained weird behavior by the characters was a drawback, so it doesn’t quite hit the high marks this time around.
Rating: 3.5